After 1176 BC Anatolia and the Black Sea. Kairos 68: Althea, the Argonaut

5.10 Family Feud

After 1116 BC Troy. Kairos 69: Diomedes, the King

5.11 The River Circus

After 1116 BC The Wei River. Kairos 70: Shang Feyan

5.12 Bad Wine

After 999 BC Jerusalem. Kairos 71: Korah, Musician and Prophet

CAST

Robert Lockhart, a former policeman, now assistant director of the Men in Black. He is charged with leading this expedition through time though he has no idea how he is going to get everyone home alive.

Boston (Mary Riley), a Massachusetts redneck, rodeo rider, and technological genius who finished her PhD in electrical engineering at age 23. She carries the amulet of Avalon, a sophisticated combination electronic GPS and magical device that shows the way from one time gate to the next. She became an elf to marry Roland; but now Roland has disappeared, and may be dead, though she refuses to think that way.

Benjamin Lincoln, a former C. I. A. office geek who keeps the database and a record of their journey. He tends to worry and is not the bravest soul, but sometimes that is an asset. His wife, Alexis, was kidnapped by her own father Mingus and dragged back to the beginning of history. This prompted the rescue mission which got everyone stuck in the past with the time gates in the time zones as the only option to get home—the long way around, as they say.

Alexis Lincoln, an elf, Roland’s sister, who became human to marry Benjamin. She retained her healing magic when she became human, but magic has its limits. For example, it can’t make her father happy with her choices.

Artie (Arthur), An Android, a product of the space-faring Anazi empire. Set free from mindless obedience to the Anazi, she willingly travels with the group, accepting Katie Harper as a mother figure, and Lockhart as a father figure. She is open to see what the future may hold, but deep down, her one overriding desire is to find a way to set her people free.

Elder Stow, a space traveling, technologically advanced Gott-Druk (Neanderthal) from the future who got thrown back into the past and is forced to make a truce with these ‘humans’ to join them in their journey. He believes it is his only chance to get back to the future.

Captain Katherine Harper (Katie), a marine and an elect—a one in a million warrior woman, whose doctorate is in ancient and medieval cultures and technologies. She is torn between her duty to the marines and her desire to be part of this larger universe she is discovering. She now carries the prototype amulet that Mingus once used to kidnap Alexis.

Major Decker, a former navy seal, now a marine special operations officer who will do all he can to keep everyone alive, even if it means shooting his way back to the twenty-first century. He is a skeptic who does not believe half of what they experience—even if he does not know what else to believe.

The Kairos. But that is a different person in each time zone.

Avalon: Season 5 Preface

The travelers came to the beginning of history on a rescue mission. Now, to get home, two elves, two marines, one Gott-Druk (a Neanderthal from the far future) and three men in black follow the amulet of Avalon that points the way to the next time gate. They move through time zones that center around the many lives of the Kairos, the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history, a person who never lives a quiet life.

They have unlimited vitamins, elf crackers, for their health; and unlimited bullets, which are needed far too often. They ride mustangs brought back from the old west, and wear fairy weave clothing that they can shape and change with a word so they can blend into the local culture. By a special gift of the Kairos, they can understand and be understood no matter the local language. It helps, because inevitably they deal with thieves, brigands, armies and empires, gods and monsters, spirits and creatures, space aliens and the great unknown. They try hard not to disturb history. To be sure, all they want is to get home in one piece, but they are not the only ones lost in time.

From the Pilot Episode

It was Doctor Procter who explained.

“I spent the last three hundred years studying the lives of the Kairos. Now that we have the opportunity to walk through those lifetimes, one by one, and in order I might add, I am not going to miss that opportunity. Isn’t that right, Mingus?”

Mingus shook his head and sighed, and in that moment everyone got a good look at the difference between Mingus, a full blood elf and the Doctor who was half-human. The contrast was not startling but obvious. No plain human could have eyes as big, features as sharp or fingers as thin and long. “If you say,” Mingus muttered as he took the amulet and shook it once himself.

“What says the Navy?” Lockhart turned to look at the two who were armed and bringing up the rear.

“I’m to follow orders,” Captain Decker frowned.

Lieutenant Harper smiled. “I would not mind exploring a little while we have the chance.”

“Besides,” Roland spoke up while Lockhart faced front again and encouraged everyone to resume walking. “I have a feeling the Kairos would not mind if we rooted out some of the unsavory characters that wandered into the time zones without permission.”

“Oh, that would be very dangerous.” Alexis said it before Lincoln could, and she grinned for her husband.

“All the same…” Roland did not finish his sentence. He fell back to walk beside Lockhart to underline his sentiments to the man.

“Hey.” Boston came up. She had been straggling near the back.

“Boston, dear.” Lockhart backed away from the elf and slipped his arm around the young woman. “So, what do you think? Do we run as fast as we can or explore a bit and maybe confront some unsavories along the way?”

“Explore and help the Kairos clean out the time zones. I thought that was obvious.”

“Well for the record,” Mingus said as he turned and walked backwards. “Though it may kill me to say it, I agree with that Lincoln fellow.”

“I haven’t offered an opinion,” Lincoln said.

“No, but I can read the mind of a frightened rabbit well enough.”

“Father!” Alexis jumped and there was some scolding in her voice. “I vote we explore and help.” She looked at Lockhart, and so did everyone else except Doctor Procter who still played with his amulet.

Lockhart nodded. “Okay,” he said. “But the number one priority is to get everyone home alive and in one piece, so when it is time to move on, we all move, no arguments.”

“You got that right,” Captain Decker mumbled.

Everyone seemed fine with that except Mingus who screwed up his face and asked, “And who decides when it is time to move on?”

“I do.” Lockhart spoke without flinching. The two stared at each other until Doctor Procter interrupted.

“Anyway,” he spoke as if in the middle of a sentence. “I would not worry about hunting unsavories. I don’t imagine it will take long before they start hunting us.”

Avalon, Moving into the Future

Avalon is a television series in written story form.

I only have one general rule: that anyone who reads a story/episode, for example, from the middle of season three, they should be able to pick up on what is going on and basically how it all works. If you want to start with the episodes that appear on my website, mgkizzia.com, and then want to go back and read the earlier adventures, that should be fine. Of course, reading them in order will enhance the experience, but I hate accidentally picking up book two of some trilogy and being totally lost. Especially for a TV show, a person ought to be able to come in the middle and still get a good story.

Look for Avalon, Season One, Avalon, Season Two, and Avalon Season Three at your favorite e-book retailers. Thirteen Episodes from the beginning of history in each book detail the adventures of the travelers from Avalon. Thrown back to the beginning of history, the travelers struggle to work their way through the days of myth and legend. They face gods and demons, gothic horrors, fantastic creatures and ancient aliens in this romp through time. They also quickly realize that they are not the only ones who have fallen through the cracks in time, and some of the others are now hunting them.

Seasons 4, 5 and 6 are blogged in bite-sized pieces on my website: mgkizzia.com as of this writing. These stories bring the travelers face to face with the worst monsters of all: the human monsters. As they move through the days before the dissolution of the gods, they get caught up in the rise of empires, and the birth of the great civilizations. It isn’t what they think—a grand adventure of discovery. It is never what they think. It is dangerous around every corner, and troubles rise directly in their path.

Seasons7, 8 and 9 will bring the travelers into the common era where the human capacity for violence and destruction increases exponentially. The spiritual terrors and aliens fade into the background, without ever going away, as the world turns to the history of humanity, and eventually world war threatens the travelers with every step of their journey back to the twenty-first century.

Look also for Avalon, the Prequel: Invasion of Memories, where the Kairos comes out of a time of deep memory loss and realizes he is the only one who has any hope of stopping an alien invasion. To keep from being overwhelmed with the sudden influx of so many memories from so many lifetimes stretching from the deep past to the distant future, the Kairos tells stories from various times in his own life when he remembered who he was; the Traveler in time, the Watcher over history.

Invasion of Memories is both a collection of short stories and a novel of the men in black who struggle to prevent an invasion by the alien Vordan, a species given to shoot first, and that is pretty much it, just shoot first.

All of these books are reasonably priced at your favorite e-retailer. You can find them under the author name, M. G. Kizzia. And here, I am supposed to say, Pick up your copy today! or some such promotional doo-dah…

I hope you enjoy reading the Avalon stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.